Posts by Kevin Crews - The Career Strategist:
Today’s Tip: Got An Offer? You Can Still Negotiate For More – Even In This Economy!
Companies feel that "talent" is on sale right now, and thus try to save additional dollars by offering candidates a lower salary than they have in previous years. However, unlike popular opinion, there are not many #2 or #3 candidates waiting in the wings. What most companies don't want you to know is that you are probably the only candidate that they feel comfortable making an offer to. Thus, you still have some negotiating power when that offer is placed on the table. Just like good poker players, you gotta know when to raise the stakes!Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that an "All-in" is the right strategy, I am just saying I don't want you to call (or except) their first "bet" just because you are pleased to have an offer on the table and are afraid to lose it if you start "gambling".
As a general rule, I think you can get 10% more than their initial offer. If they offer 60k, then asking for 66k is reasonable. If successful, you just earned an immediate 10% raise! This is much better than what your expected raise will be one year from now. The lucky employees are getting around 3% in their annual reviews. So, you just negotiated 3 years of raises before you even started. And believe me, now is the only time you are allowed to have this negotiating power. Once you're an employee, you fall into a pre-determined set of matrix raises.
As long as you negotiate in a professional manner, you will not have to worry about them rescinding an offer because you asked for a little more salary. Most companies even EXPECT a little negotiation and when you don't ask for it, there is no easy way for a recruiter or Hiring Manager to suggest giving you more!
P.S. When you ask for more salary, make sure you hit on all your selling points that got you the offer in the first place. Make sure they see that you are an investment, and not a line item expense.
Today’s Tip: Step Right Up and Win a Prize (a Career)
Unlike the carnival carnies who try to entice you to come play their games that you cannot possibly win, I am looking for ONE volunteer to be my “player” and prove to the world that my job search techniques work. I am taking “applications” from job seekers to partner with me and allow me to […]
Today’s Tip: It’s All In The Name
Naming things is a big part of our society. We name our pets. We name our stuffed animals. We name inanimate objects like our boats and cars. We even have nicknames for our loved ones (and no, I wasn’t thinking of “old lady”). And even though we think of very creative names for the above […]
Today’s Tip: Measure Results Via a “Customized” E-mail Address
With the increase use of technology to screen candidates, a lot of corporations are sending pre-screening questions to your e-mail address. If you are like a lot of job seekers, you probably have your resume posted in a variety of places. How do you know which ones are beneficial and getting you recognized? A smart […]
Today’s Tip: The Economy Moved Your Cheese. What Are You Going To Do About It?
For those of you that are not aware of the best selling business book of all time, it’s called, “Who Moved My Cheese?”, by Spencer Johnson. It’s all about dealing with change. It’s a pretty entertaining book and I would recommend it to job seekers. One of the learning points in the book is “When […]
Today’s Tip: Outplacement Services – Friend Or Foe?
For those of you that have been laid off from a corporation, have you found the Outplacement Services to be a valuable resource in getting you back to work? Or at least, have they properly prepared you to tackle the economy and beat the odds? Or, did they just make you feel “temporarily good” after […]
Today’s Tip: Get Yourself Checked Out!
Are you worried that your past employers are saying things (to people checking your references) that are preventing you from receiving offers? If so, are you going to do anything about it? My suggestion is you get that checked out before it causes any further amputations! I would ask a real close recruiter or HR […]
Today’s Tip: Do You Have a Job Search Plan?
How many of you have shown up at the airport and said to the airlines, “I would like to go somewhere, where do you fly to?” How many of you were able to “wing-it” on a big project at your last employer? You wouldn’t take a vacation without some kind of plan, nor would you […]
Today’s Tip: These ARE the Good Ole Days
I am going out on a limb here by declaring that these are the good old days RIGHT NOW! Before everyone thinks that I am smoking the wacky weed, let me explain. I am aware that things are really bad right now, but unfortunately, they are going to get worse. We will look back in […]